A Quiet Power Shift: Coal Steps Aside in China's Grid
A single threshold figure is quietly redrawing the line between old fuels and new electricity.
Coal used to be the default answer. Flip open a power meter and the current traces straight back to a mine, a freight train, a flame burning through the night.
Now a single landmark figure has quietly crossed its threshold: coal's share has retreated to a new mark, while wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear step neatly into the gap.
The grid doesn't celebrate. It just changes shift. Next time you plug in your phone, pause for a second and ask: is the watt lighting up your screen the old kind, or the new?